Donoughmore Tug of War

Donoughmore Tug of War AGM has passed and training for the 2013 outdoor season is in its early stages and all have a positive outlook for the busy year ahead.

Training has been set for Tuesday and Thursday nights in the community field Stuake Donoughmore at 8pm. The sport of Tug of War offers a fun way to get fit stay fit and compete at the ultimate team sport and caters for all from under age to adults, male and female.

Our annual Munster league has just begun with The Shop club of Tipperary playing host to the first round of 2013. In spite of the showery weather and the rise of some mucky pulling conditions eight club were represented. The well attended event ran 3 competitions of which had two grades.

After a round robin system was applied in each competition the clubs entered produced the following results for to begin the 2013 league table..

The youths event was won by the Cork club Araglin, against Streamstown. The Senior  640kg Mens was won by The Burren with runners-up Farrenreigh, the Novice went to Araglin club from local club The Mill. Next, Catchweight Senior went to the host club The Shop by defeating the travelling Burren men. Catchweight novice seen The Mill picking up first place, followed closely by newly formed Inchnapoagh squad from Brosna county Kerry. Congrats to the Kerrymen for a very positive first day pulling. Streamstown from county Westmeath also made their debut in Munster league and have to be thanked for making the long journey down.

The second days pulling takes place this Sunday the 21st at newly affiliated Inchnapoagh, Brosna, County Kerry. Weigh in is between 12 and 1pm.. with pulling starting at 1pm sharp. Please come along and support the first club to be seen in Kerry in many years.

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 4,000 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 7 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

Safe travels to all those goin to the World Championships in Switzerland this week and best of luck too all clubs and pullers who are to represent our green isle..Enjoy.. C’mon Ireland!!

Sunday the 19th August the will stick in the minds of many in Donoughmore Tug of War as one of the greatest days for their local Tug of War club for many years and possibly ever. Those supporters who made the two a half hour journey to the last National Championship of 2012 at the Tullow Rugby grounds were not disappointed, as eight locally grown Donoughmore men stamped their names in the archives of Irish Senior Tug of War for the first time in history.

The weather for once stayed dry as a busy day in National light weight tug of war commenced, the events under decision were  Senior/Div2 580kg, Novice 560kgs, Ladies 520kgs and a very popular 4×4 Mixed.

The Ladies 520kg was contested by two great ladies teams of 2012, Boyneside and Ballinastoe. In a best of five end pull, the Ballinstoe Ladies had a great start bagging the first end but it was Boyneside who upped the pressure to win the next three and claim yet another National title in which has been an outstanding year for them in Ladies and Mens Tug of War.

Nine teams hammered out the Senior/Div2 and semi final placings went to Boley, Gortletteragh, Donoughmore, Glenhill. In turn, Boley were matched against local Cork club Glenhill in which Boley progressed to a final place in straight ends. Donoughmore faced Gortletteragh and were defeated by the Leitrim men as they completed the pairing of Boley and Gortletteragh in the final. Before they decided gold, the men of the Burren stepped up to face The Rockies and you could see in their faces they were not going to leave another gold slip through their fingers. The Burren won the Div 2 580kg in straight ends adding too there 600kg Novice Silver and the Novice 560kg 2011. The Burren by winning, also made it a Div 2 lightweight three in a row for Munster clubs with Donoughmore winning 2010 and Glenhill in 2011. Hearty congratulations to the team and band of supporters from Clare.

Under great scenes of celebrations from the Novice final it was time the Cork men had to face off to decide bronze in senior. The Watergrasshill men took a very controlled first end, but the Donoughmore men remained calm at the break knowing they had more to offer and in turn leveled the pull by winning the second end.. 1-1.. Third end.. the deciding end seen Donoughmore take rope and the Glenhill men get it back, but it was the Donoughmore men who had the grit and the determination to pull without fowl in the closing stages and in turn were awarded the third a final end. Winning for them their first ever Senior medal for the club and the first senior medal for Munster in close to ten years, the last been for the efforts of the men of Carbery Tug Of War, Cork.

The final also was a tough affair with Boley having to be on top of their game to take the first end from the Gortletteragh men after 7 mins of good pressure from the Wexford men. Gortletteragh now having too attack went about it as they do so well with extreme force and powerful attacking but true to Boley Tug of War they kept their shape well and had the grit to finish well.

The Novice 560kg top four were Stapletons, Farrenreigh, Ballinagh, Boynesiders. the young Tipp men overcame Ballinagh and Stapletons had to dig deep to win against the Boynesiders. Final, Farrenreigh versus Stapletons. Farrenreigh picked up first blood taking the first end, but disqualification in the second meant momentum swung to Stapletons and they took advantage by clinching the third and final end to receive the National Novice lightweight title.

The day was wrapped up well with a very entertaining mixed 4×4 competition. Donoughmore mixed team were one of 6 teams competing but unfortunately did not gather enough points to progress to the Semi Final stages. The top teams and this disciple were Canavans, Ballinastoe, Boyneside, Brideswell. The favourites Canavans eased passed the Boynesiders and Ballinastoe earned their place in the final by defeating Brideswell. But Canavans impressed once again in the final by grabbing a victory and defending their title and Ballinastoe had to be content with silver. Brideswell team picked up a hard earned bronze against Boynesiders.

A great day for Donoughmore Tug of War Club and Munster Tug of War. Congratulations to all in the mens teams across the year and many congratulations to the new Ladies team which can only be described as a welcome breath of fresh air to our small club. And we look forward to 2013 and the various challenges it brings…

Donoughmore Tug of War Club now has received Six All Ireland medals from National championships that have taken place in Wexford.

That is thanks this time to the nine Ladies who traveled to New Ross last Sunday where they competed in their first all Ladies National Championship. While they were there, they managed a third place finish in the first event of 560kgs 8 aside and Second in the 6aside Catchweight.

This been their first National it truly was a fabulous result for the ladies. To receive Bronze for 560kgs was well over their expectations but then to manage to beat the current top Ladies team in the country of Boynesiders setting them up in a final against the number two ladies team in the country Ballinastoe was a enormous step forward in their efforts. True their good form they forced the Ballinastoe women to a three ended final in which the Wicklow women had to dig deep to bring the Donoughmore Ladies run to an end. Well done  to Norma, Susan, Claire, Amy, Sarah, Edel, Shelia, Sarah and Jacinta   Hearty congratulations to the ever sporting clubs of Boynesiders and Ballinastoe who were winners of 560kgs 8 aside and winners of the Catchweight 6 aside, they now must have an altogether different view of their friends in Donoughmore. For us the bar is raised.

Accompanying the women in New Ross were the mens squad who competed in the Senior 640kgs but after a very positive days pulling came up a heart breaking two points short of semi final position. In those semi finals Gortletteragh were left digging deep in the third end to over come their neighbours Lakehill. The other side seen Boley A having little bother with Boley B, setting up a Gortletteragh V Boley final. The first end was a gruelling pull running to seven minutes with Boley going one up. But the will to win could have been the difference between the two sides in the second as Boley made it an impressive five 640ks National titles in a row. Heart break for Gortletteragh who are showing a good run of form at this weight over the past number of years finishing fourth, third and now a galant second….

In Div 2 local team Glenhill added to their collection a 640kg Gold medal when they defeated Ballinagh in straight ends. Congrats to Glenhill.

The Novice semi final placings were snapped up by The Shop, Ballyhooly, Stapletons and Boyneside with them being the best of 12 teams!  Both Munster clubs bowed out when the impressive Boyneside progressed in straight ends against The Shop and Ballyhooly came up shy being defeated by Stapletons in straight ends. So the bronze was once again fought out between two Munster clubs with Ballyhooly having the edge and taking bronze to North Cork. Boyneside added yet another title to the their cabinet when they overcame the Galway men in straight ends making it their third National tile of 2012..Congrats Boyneside.

Rolling in on Sunday sees the last Munster title on offer the 720kgs. this will take place in Corrifin, County Clare along with Youths, U23 and a 610 kgs Open which should prove popular to light weight teams competing in 580kg All Ireland on the 19th of this month in Tullow Show, County Carlow. Pulling starts at 1pm..

Donoughmore Carnival was once again a worthy venue for this years 640kg Munster Championship where the locals retained their Munster Championship crown to the delight of a large crowd of local support.

The day started cool and damp and pulling conditions were slightly spoiled due to rain that fell for the last hour of the event.

First on the agenda was the U23 competition  in which Harps had the measure of Farranreigh men beating them 2-0.

Next due to the lack of  Underage teams the Donoughmore Ladies split up and were joined by four Harps men to pull a best of five competition. This was won by the Harps side in straight ends, in the best of five. Thanks to the Harps men who fell in to create this event.

The main Championship was pulled first and was well attended with seven teams pulling for 640kg Munster titles. The standard of pulling was very high and the event was indeed very competitive and an all round big crowd pleaser. The Novice final was an all Tipperary affair with Farrenreigh coming up short to their neighbours The Shop. The senior semi final seen Donoughmore pull Ballyhooly in straight ends and Glenhill having to dig deep in a third end to overcome The Burren. The draw for the 710kg was made and then back to the 640 final were Donoughmore retained their 640 title and the Bob Dean Cup in straight ends against Glenhill.

The 710kg began as the weather slowly took a turn for the worse, six teams represented and they ended up after some confusion with a straight final where The Shop pulled well and beat against another set of neighbours The Mill to gain a 710 Munster title.

During this event there was a U16 Inter-Parish tournament held with Inniscarra, Dripsey, Banteer, Ballyclogh and locals Donoughmore all fielding teams. After the round robin the top two teams Donoughmore and Ballyclogh pulled an exciting three ended final with the Ballyclogh squeezing out victory. Congratulations to Ballyclogh and a big thank you to all teams who made the effort to travel too us to pull their first ever U16 Tug Of War. Many thanks also to Ger O Connell for his efforts in organising this, the first event of hopefully many more.

Sunday next sees a busy day in New Ross, County Wexford where our Ladies and Men will be competing in respective National Championships. These are the premier weight Senior, Div 2, Novice 640kg. Ladies  560kgs and  Catchweight 6 aside will also take place. Pulling starts at 1.30pm.

Yes, the hardy Pluckanes men came up trumps on a nasty night in Donoughmore with a heavy mist blowing straight down the community field in Stuake.

The crowd was gathering fast as the Macra presented the cup to the winning tag rugby team. The van got raided for proper tug boots belts and the last-minute intrigued strategies were discussed along with the usual banter and cheering, messing and so on. The mood quickly changed when Ger O Connell let the standard tug of war instructions roll and we were off..

Both teams had the same approach. Worry about the winning later, just get the first end. They both weighted each other up well with some fierce heave’s and some good holding but slow as the weather is to clear Pluckanes ratcheted in the Guarrane side and after giving over 5 feet all of a sudden they were in trouble and lost the first end to their lighter neighbours.

Pluckanes 1-0

With each team knowing theirs limits the second end changed in tact. Guarrane knew they had to go at them again so as to break their spirit and after a barrage of pressure and whips Guarrane gained ground but with conditions dam and slippery and it could be said that the Pluckanes boys were that little bit more experienced in the ground conditions as they weathered the relentless attacks from Gurrane and inch by inch they pulled the mighty Guarrane team and the hopes of all their supporters over the line to a Pluckanes victory.

Pluckanes 2-0

All in all this final was a really hard pull to call, as the two sides were of very evenly matched and truly were the two best sides in the competition. At this annual Inter townland competition 60 odd people pulled, over 4 nights, with 28 ends of Tug of War refereed by a combination of Ger O Connell, Sean Honohan and Eddie Buckley and controlled at his ease on the microphone by John Glavin . The Donoughmore Tug of War Club would like to thank each and every one of these people for great effort made by each person in coming to  represent their townland  and local Tug of War in such a sporting fashion.  So John Hartnetts Pluckanes team of Mick H, Micheal, Podge, Trevor and Mick Healy have the bragging rights and if we know this bunch, they will not be letting us forget who won? how they won? and how their going to win again? a hearty congratulations to Pluckanes in their hard-earned victory and commiseration’s to the ever sporting Guarrane.

The night was closed before the barbecue by a U23 semi Mixed tournament with Padraig, Brian and Lorcan captaining the teams. The event began in front of large crowd, poor Padraig’s came out the worse loosing twice, leaving Brian and Lorcan to battle out a final. Lorcans team pulled well and won a tough first end and while well coached Brian’s threw everything at them in the second end is was not to be as Lorcans with on to win the gold medals and receive the Pat Glavin trophy to their delight.. Congratulations to all who turned out to compete for simple fun and craic.